9 CHINA’S PROMOTION OF WIND AND SOLAR POWER …
203
and wind only 33% annually (China’s 13th Five-Year Plan on Energy
Development 2016). By the end of 2017, China’s installed capacity of
wind power and PV power generation reached 163.7 and 130.3 GW,
both ranking the first in the world. See Fig. 9.1 (China Electricity Council
2018).
When China has been experiencing a great leap forward in developing
wind and solar PV power generation, the policy makers and market participants have been encountering industrial and technological barriers as
well as geographic challenges that prevent full utilization of the quickly
expanding installed capacity from these renewable resources. Moreover,
when competing with conventional coal-fired thermal power that is much
more polluting, wind and PV power production usually gets less support
and subsidies from local governments, which exacerbates the market
distortion in favor of thermal power plants, one of the major emission
sources of China’s urban smog and PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers). Each year a huge proportion
of wind and PV capacity remains unused. The integration of wind and
PV generation especially in the western provinces of China has lagged
in capacity expansion, resulting in appalling waste. According to China’s
Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), the country’s average
wind curtailment rate stood at a record high of 15% in 2015 (Li 2016).
The Chinese government has realized the urgency of addressing these
barriers and problems, and has been ready to adjust supportive policies,
speed up grid construction and encourage more renewable capacity to be
installed in economically vibrant coastal provinces rather than the hinterland. However, such efforts may take years to have effect upon existing
renewable power production, transmission, consumption and geographic
redistribution. Wind and solar power generation in China’s coastal areas
is largely restrained not only by local meteorological factors such as the
intensity of wind and sunshine, but also by the NIMBY (Not in My Back
Yard) movements against large-scale energy projects among the Chinese
middle class in the populous eastern areas. Some southeast provinces
along the coastlines, including Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi,
actually have enormous wind energy potentials where wind energy intensity can go as high as 600 W/m 2 , but such strong winds are difficult to
harness as they are often the outcomes of frequent typhoon and tropical
depression phenomena in summer (Chen 2019, p. 47).
203
and wind only 33% annually (China’s 13th Five-Year Plan on Energy
Development 2016). By the end of 2017, China’s installed capacity of
wind power and PV power generation reached 163.7 and 130.3 GW,
both ranking the first in the world. See Fig. 9.1 (China Electricity Council
2018).
When China has been experiencing a great leap forward in developing
wind and solar PV power generation, the policy makers and market participants have been encountering industrial and technological barriers as
well as geographic challenges that prevent full utilization of the quickly
expanding installed capacity from these renewable resources. Moreover,
when competing with conventional coal-fired thermal power that is much
more polluting, wind and PV power production usually gets less support
and subsidies from local governments, which exacerbates the market
distortion in favor of thermal power plants, one of the major emission
sources of China’s urban smog and PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers). Each year a huge proportion
of wind and PV capacity remains unused. The integration of wind and
PV generation especially in the western provinces of China has lagged
in capacity expansion, resulting in appalling waste. According to China’s
Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), the country’s average
wind curtailment rate stood at a record high of 15% in 2015 (Li 2016).
The Chinese government has realized the urgency of addressing these
barriers and problems, and has been ready to adjust supportive policies,
speed up grid construction and encourage more renewable capacity to be
installed in economically vibrant coastal provinces rather than the hinterland. However, such efforts may take years to have effect upon existing
renewable power production, transmission, consumption and geographic
redistribution. Wind and solar power generation in China’s coastal areas
is largely restrained not only by local meteorological factors such as the
intensity of wind and sunshine, but also by the NIMBY (Not in My Back
Yard) movements against large-scale energy projects among the Chinese
middle class in the populous eastern areas. Some southeast provinces
along the coastlines, including Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi,
actually have enormous wind energy potentials where wind energy intensity can go as high as 600 W/m 2 , but such strong winds are difficult to
harness as they are often the outcomes of frequent typhoon and tropical
depression phenomena in summer (Chen 2019, p. 47).